The Reality of Diabetic Senior Citizen's Compliance to the Prescribed Diet

This thesis deals with the issue of diabetes mellitus in people of old age and the dietary treatment suggestions. The objective of the thesis is to discover whether there is a noticeable difference between keeping the necessary diet in senior citizens living in a retirement home as opposed to at home, more specifically in senior citizens diagnosed with type II diabetes who despite the advice from health care professionals (doctors, nurses) underestimate the risk of possible complications. The theoretical part deals with a short characteristics of aging and old age and describes terms and definitions of diabetes mellitus, its categories, diagnosis, complications, and treatment. It summarizes dietary suggestions for people suffering from type II diabetes mellitus. The practical part will present the examined reality of keeping the necessary diet through qualitative research. The first part of the research comprises a week-long menu from each respondent and their calculations in the Nutriservis Professional program and subsequent evaluation. The intake of basic nutrients, proteins, fats and carbohydrates is tracked in each menu, along with overall energy intake and the amount of took in monosaccharides and disaccharides which are compared to calculated values of recommended amounts of nutrients according to The Harris Benedict Equation. The second part comprises of semi-structured interviews. The interview was made-up of 14 basic questions which were identical for all the respondents, and 2 additional questions which were targeted towards respondents living in retirement homes. The researched sample consisted of 12 respondents overall (6 living in a retirement home and 6 living at home). The research shows that keeping the eating habits is not determined by the environment in which the respondents live. The results were more or less comparable and both groups had more or less diligent respondents